COAT CHARACTERS IN GUINEA-PIGS AND RABBITS. 13 



forms as the much admired Dutch-marked varieties, in which the two 

 cheek patches are distinct (not united) above and below, the shoulder 

 patches are wanting altogether, leaving a broad white girdle around the 

 animal, and the rump patches fail to reach below the middle of the 

 hind leg, though united dorsally (compare fig. 6, which shows an 

 approximation to the Dutch-marked type). 



A mottling similar in pattern, but with different color effects, is pro- 

 duced when the various patches are differently colored. Thus in one 

 strain which I have bred from the beginning of my experiments, some of 

 the pigment patches are usually pure black, others pure red, though 



FIG. 7. Color pattern of C} 2427. The color FIG. 8. Color pattern of C< 2928. The left cheek 



patches are of very limited extent. patch is red, the adjacent neck (ear) 



They consist of a red eye patch and a patch black. The fused right cheek 



black neck (ear) patch in the right half and ear patches are black. The fused 



of the body, and a median (paired, but shoulder patches are of mixed red and 



fused?) rump patch. black. 



occasionally a patch contains hairs of both colors intermingled. (See 

 figs. i-8.) Further, the patches in this strain frequently fail to cover 

 the whole body, so that the animals are mottled with large clear areas 

 of black, red, and white, a condition which undoubtedly has been 

 common among domesticated cavies since their introduction into Europe 

 from South America some three or more centuries ago. (See Cum- 

 berland, p. n.) 



BRINDLED. 



In brindled animals black and red hairs are interspersed in the same 

 pigment patches. The latter may or may not be continuous with each 

 other ; if they are not continuous, white mottling results, associated 

 with the brindled character. 



